On October 12, 2017, Quezon City hosted one of the year’s biggest gathering of local government unit (LGU) leaders as they convened for the Galing Pook Awards. This year, Friedrich Ebert Stiftung (FES) with young engineers from the Renewable Energy Boot Camp (REBOOT) gathered the LGU leaders, industry experts and climate advocates to a forum on renewable energy.

Photo: FES Philippines

“The role of local initiative in making renewable energy work is very important,”

FES Resident Representative Johannes Kadura said.

“Local government units and community-based organizations, because of their direct link to the people, have the best capacity of bringing the benefits of electricity to their own constituents,”

Kadura added.

Senator Sherwin Gatchalian gave the keynote message where he shared his experience during a study visit in Germany, where their Energiewende or energy transition program gave citizens an environment-friendly and affordable source of power.

As the Senate Energy Committee Chairperson, Gatchalian batted for the Philippines to follow the steps of Germany’s energy shift to empower families in local communities.

“Renewable energy gives Filipino families the power to choose,”

Senator Gatchalian said.

“Our communities have so much untapped potential to shift to cheaper, cleaner sources of power.”

LGUs in Roxas town, Palawan, San Luis town, Aurora and San Carlos City, Negros Occidental shared their experiences in implementing their renewable energy projects. San Luis town mayor Mariano “Nano” Tangson spoke about their experience in running a 768- kilowatt San Luis mini-hydropower plant in Aurora. The hyrdopower project of San Luis Aurora has been cited by Galing Pook Awards as one of the Top 10 excellent LGU programs of 2017.

Industry experts oriented the LGU leaders about the vast opportunities they can take to shift to renewable energy. Tetchi Cruz-Capellan, President and CEO – Philippine Solar Power Alliance, talked about the inevitable rise of renewable energy in the future and encouraged LGUs to invest heavily on shifting to clean energy for low-cost, low-carbon power sources.

Young engineers and climate advocates also presented different projects and programs that local governments can choose from to implement in their own cities and towns. The following fellows from the REBOOT program exhibited their renewable energy projects in local communities:

The forum ended with an open discussion to the panel of experts. As the LGU leaders gear up for promoting excellent programs in their governments, the prospect of democratizing energy for Filipino families burn brighter.

The Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES) is a non-profit German foundation funded by the Government of the Federal Republic of Germany, and headquartered in Bonn and Berlin. It was founded in 1925 and is named after Germany's first democratically elected President, Friedrich Ebert. FES is committed to the advancement of both socio-political and economic development in the spirit of social democracy, through civic education, research, and international cooperation. Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung is the oldest political foundation in Germany.